“Much of Chicago area under Severe Thunderstorm Watch; south suburbs under Warning”, “Kansas City metro included in severe thunderstorm watch until midnight”. The weather has been changing recently, and solid convective weather, such as short-time rainstorms and thunderstorms, is frequent. When people ride or walk, they often encounter high winds that bring sand and dust into the eyes, at which time, if they rub their eyes directly with their hands, it is easy to cause damage to the cornea. At the same time, extreme weather accompanied by strong rainfall, easy to have rain splash into the eyes, and rainwater on the landing may adhere to the air-suspended bacteria, which may cause eye infections. So, how to protect your eyes scientifically in this weather?
Wearing goggles or framed glasses
To avoid foreign objects into the eyes, in windy weather outside, it is best to wear goggles or frame glasses (no vision issues can wear no prescription of plano glasses). If a foreign object is accidentally blown into your eyes, don't rub it with your hands to avoid some angular grains of sand from rubbing deeper and deeper to prevent accidentally scratching the cornea and expanding the area of injury.
Our eyes are like a camera, and the cornea is like a thin layer of glass in front of the lens. It is smooth and flat, crystal clear; if the sand and dust into the eyes, with hands, rub the eyes, the delicate cornea may be the hard texture of the sand grinding out a trace, and then see things easily blurred. In addition, corneal damage can also easily cause eye diseases such as keratitis.
The best practice is to wash your hands and the skin around your eyes by blinking your eyelids or closing your eyes, first, pulling your eyelids with your hands and gently vibrating them up and down so that tears smoothly flush the sand out. If there is still a foreign body feeling, use flowing water to rinse off slowly, and saline rinse are available for those who have conditions. Do not rinse directly on the cornea to avoid damage to the cornea. If it is already stuck to the cornea, it is necessary to go to the hospital and ask the doctor to find a way to remove it, do not take it by yourself.
Do not wear contact lenses in windy weather
The wind will accelerate the evaporation of tears and take away water from the eyes, causing discomforts such as dryness and foreign body sensation while easily blowing pollen, dust mites, and sand into the eyes and attaching them to contact lenses. At this time, many people will instinctively rub their eyes, contact lenses, and eyeballs constantly friction, easily leading to eye scratches, corneal epithelium off, etc.
So in this kind of weather, it is not recommended to wear contact lenses. You can wear frames instead, just to give your eyes a vacation. If you must wear contact lenses, then make sure you clean them well, carry a good contact lens companion case with you, and if there is sand blowing into your eyes, take them out and clean them in time. Purchase backup eyeglasses online is the best choice.
Good self-management at home
Glaucoma patients especially need to do a good job of self-management at home to prevent the sequelae brought by bad weather. Being outdoors in windy weather can easily cause high tension and emotional excitement in the body, which may affect the body's thermoregulatory center, thus causing fluctuations in intraocular pressure and thus triggering or aggravating glaucoma. Therefore, it is recommended that glaucoma patients minimize going out in bad weather to reduce eye irritation and maintain emotional stability to avoid mental tension and overexcitement. If symptoms such as headache, eye swelling, and vision loss occur, it is recommended to visit a professional clinic promptly.
Warm reminders: Winter and spring is the period of the year when the weather changes a lot, so you can always carry sunglasses when you go out every day to protect yourself from the sun and to block the wind when it is windy. This a special reminder that when the wind is raging, and the rain is pouring down, we must remember to protect our eyes!
